Metroid: The Remnant Forces
by Kasperow
Summary: While Samus, Exeter and Smythe try to get through the hatch, Force Two find themselves in a large, empty laboratory. As they try to hack into the consoles, they accidentally activate a Beam Cannon, they can't turn off. Is this the end of Force Two?
1. Chapter 1: The Hunter Arrives

Well, this is my first Metroid Fanfic ever.

Chapter 1:

_The Hunter Arrives_

The war was on. It had been on for months. So far, the Galactic Federation had managed to survive, but it was just a matter of time, before they would have to evacuate their base. Some hours ago, a couple of scouts were sent out to see, if they could find a place to hide, once the Galactic Federation had to evacuate the base. Every five minutes, the main gate of the Space Pirate Army's Fortress opened, only to release a new wave of troops. The war seemed lost. No matter how many Space Pirates, the Galactic Federation's Soldiers killed, there just kept coming Space Pirates.

"Commander" one of the Galactic Federation's last living soldiers said. "We've just heard word from our scouts. They've found a place to hide. It's only 10 miles away." As he heard that, the commander looked at the soldier.

"Good. Have you heard anything from the Bounty Hunter we requested?" the commander asked.

"Yes, sir. She expects to be here in less than an hour" the soldier answered. "Until then, we've got to stand our ground."

The commander looked out on the battlefield. It didn't look good. The only thing he could see was a lot of Space Pirates and very few Federation Troopers. Most of his own troopers were hiding behind rocks or shrubberies, in hope of not being seen by the Space Pirates.

"Everyone. Meet me in the Briefing Room" he said using the Communication Relay. "I have something very important to tell you."

On his way to the Briefing Room, he looked out the windows. Wherever he looked, he saw the Space Pirates, slaying his army. It was no pleasant sight. When he reached the Briefing Room, he almost looked surprised. He didn't expect there to be more than 15 soldiers left, but he saw more than 50. He looked at them, one at a time. Then he started speaking.

"Everyone. I have something to tell you. First of all, I would like to say, that this is going to be the last briefing here. Our scouts have found a cave only 10 miles to the west of here. That's where we're going. The only problem is the amount of transport vehicles we have left. We only have 2 scout vehicles and a single transport ship with a destroyed engine left" he said. "Also, I've heard that the Bounty Hunter will be here in less than 45 minutes. I want someone to send our coordinates to her, once we get to the cave. And when she arrives, I want someone to fill her in on what has happened during the last months. Now go. Take the computers and we're ready to go. Also, any computers that we leave behind must be destroyed. That's an order. Dismissed." As he said the last word, he looked at all the Soldiers, who were leaving the Briefing Room. Then he went over to one of them and grabbed his shoulder. "Officer. I'd like you to take some of the soldiers to the cave right now. Take one of our scout vehicles. With them, you'll be able to get to the cave in 10 minutes."

"Yes, sir!" the officer answered. "What about the science team? We have to get them off the planet and back to the Galactic Federation Headquarters."

"I know. But we don't have any vehicles that can fly through the atmosphere since our transport ship is too damaged to fly that high. Also, it would be too dangerous to use it, as long as they've got all those turrets. It would only bring us in danger."

"Understood, sir!" the Officer said. "I'll let you know when we get there."

"Good. Now go" the commander replied. Then he turned around and helped some of the soldiers with packing up some of the last computers. When they were finished packing of the computers, they stuffed it into the Transport vehicle. The first group had already left the base. "Alright. Listen up. I want our best soldiers to take the last Scout Vehicle and head over to that cave. You should be there in less than five minutes. The rest of us will be taking the Transport vehicle and all the equipment. We'll meet you there in twenty minutes. Good luck." Three of the soldiers jumped into the Scout Vehicle and left the base. Then the undamaged engines of the Transport vehicle started and the ship began to take off.

After a couple of minutes, the Scout Vehicle arrived at the cave site. When they arrived, they saw something burning, falling through the atmosphere. At first the soldiers thought that it was a meteor, until it came closer. The object was too small to be a meteor. It wasn't much bigger than one of the Federation's Scout Vehicles. None of the soldiers knew what it was. Then it came even closer, and the flames around the surface of the object disappeared. Just before the object was about to hit the surface of the planet, it broke off. Now the soldiers could see what it was. It was not just an object. It was a spaceship, but it wasn't one of the Federation's. The spaceship slowly landed. Then the hatch on top of it opened, and out came a humanoid being. The soldiers suddenly knew who it was. It was the bounty hunter.

"Are you the last remaining Galactic Federation Troopers?" The bounty hunter asked with a female voice. Her orange suit's shining surface reflected the light from the sunset, so the soldiers were almost blinded.

"No. We're only a little group of survivors" one of the soldiers answered. "The rest will be here in less than 15 minutes."

"Good" the bounty hunter replied. She looked at the battlefield. Just like the commander, all she saw was the Space Pirates on the rocky landscape. "Now I understand why you needed assistance" she said. "Have you considered calling for reinforcements?"

"Yes. But they can't afford to send any" one of the soldiers said.

"That's not good" the bounty hunter said calmly.

Some minutes later, the Transport vehicle arrived with the rest of the survivors. As they landed, the soldiers got the computers out of Transport vehicle and into the cave. The commander went closer to the bounty hunter.

"Are you the bounty hunter?" he asked.

"Yes. I know I told you that it would take an hour, but I heard that the situation kept getting worse, so I increased the speed to full speed" she answered.

"Excellent. Thanks for doing that" the commander said. "We owe you one, bounty hunter."

"Just call me Samus" she answered. "And you don't owe me anything. Also, I don't do this to get the money. I do this for the Federation."

"It doesn't matter what the reason is, what matters is that you're here to help us" the commander said. "Now listen to me. I've noticed that the Space Pirate Fortress's gates opens once every five minutes. What I need you to do is to take five soldiers with you, and sneak into the Space Pirates' Fortress, and set up this bomb. It shouldn't take more than an hour from you get in until you get to the Main Power Generator, where you must set up the bomb."

"Understood" Samus said and looked out on the battlefield. "But wouldn't that be considered a suicide mission?"

"Perhaps it will, but it's our only hope" the commander replied. "I promise that we will do our best to make sure you make it to the main entrance. From there, you're all on your own."

"And who will be joining me on this suicide mission?" Samus asked as she looked at the soldiers. As she asked, a Space Pirate came crawling over a hill and shot one of the soldiers in the head. He died instantly. The other soldiers made quick process of it.

"He won't be joining you" the commander said in a sarcastic voice. "But now you've seen why we're in such trouble."

"I guess so" Samus said. "But that doesn't answer my question. Who will be joining me on this suicide mission? And how come a Pirate Scout Trooper can kill one of our soldiers that fast?"

"They've enhanced their weaponry" the commander replied. "That's why they have already killed so many of our soldiers. Now, please assemble a group and go to the main gates of their fortress. We'll keep you covered until you get in."

"Alright" Samus said and pointed at some of the soldiers. "The five of you, follow me. The rest of you, cover us."

"Good. I have sent a request to the Galactic Federation, to send their Elite Forces, but they can't get here before the power generator is destroyed" the commander said. "That'll be your primary objective. Your secondary objective is to kill any Space Pirate that you see, unless they're in groups."

"Roger that" Samus replied. "Troopers! Let's move out." Samus and the little group of soldiers began the trip to the fortress. No matter where they looked, they could only see Space Pirates. The soldiers readied their weapons for eventual battles to come. They didn't expect the trip to be completely safe, even though the soldier in the camp would provide them with suppressing fire. Samus told the soldiers to run as silently as possible, to prevent the Space Pirates from hearing them. They didn't want any unnecessary battles, if they could avoid it. Samus took a look at the layout of the area. There weren't many mountains or obstacles to hide behind or under. The only mountains were the one the Federation used as their new base, along with some that could barely be seen in the horizon. The group didn't have much of a chance to survive, but they couldn't just let the Space Pirates find the base and destroy it. Then she saw a giant rock that could provide some cover. "Let's go" Samus said and ran towards the rock. To her luck, the Space Pirates hadn't sent any more soldiers to deal with the Federation.

When she got over to the rock, she crouched behind it, so the Pirates wouldn't be able to see her. Then she told the soldiers to come closer, using the wireless communication system that the Federation had integrated into her helm. The soldiers came closer, and Samus ran to another obstacle, that she had just seen. This kept going on for almost 2 hours, before they got to the main gates of the Space Pirate fortress. Now all they had to do was wait for the gates to open, so they could get into the fortress and destroy the power generator. The worst problem was, that by the time they arrived outside the main gates, the gates had just closed, meaning they would have to survive for another five minutes. Those were the worst five minutes in the any of the soldiers' lives. They were waiting for the gates to open. There was nothing to hide behind. They were completely unprotected and surrounded by Pirates.

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Next Chapter: "As we wait for the gates to open, we're attacked by a group of Space Pirates. We try to fight them off, but their armor is too tough. When all hope seems lost, the gates finally open... but that doesn't mean we're safe for now."  
Next chapter: Chapter 2: _Battle at the Gate_

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And now that you've read this first chapter, please give a review.

NOTE: If you give me a review, don't just write your opinion. Tell me what I can do better, or why you liked the chapter.


	2. Chapter 2: Battle at the Gates

And here is the second chapter of 'Metroid: The Remnant Forces'. It may not be as good as the first, but personally I think that I've been taking a bit too long time, working on Chapter 2. I hope you like it, though.

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Chapter 2

_Battle at the gate_

Samus stared at the gates for a moment. She knew there was no way, she could open the gates. The huge, cold metal-doors gave her a feeling that the mission she had been sent on, along with the soldiers, wouldn't be completed. Somehow she just knew it.

Then she turned around. The sight of the many Space Pirates that had surrounded them didn't make matters better in any way. The Pirates were slowly walking closer, filling the soldiers with fear. They all had a feeling that their mission would end here.

Then, Samus suddenly started running towards two of the Space Pirates. None of the soldiers knew why, but they all believed that she knew what she was doing. When Samus got close enough, the two Space Pirates swung their sharp razorblade-like arm, but Samus dodged the attack. She jumped over the two Pirates, shooting them with her Charge Beam, but the shots didn't seem to have any effect on them at all. As she landed, she was almost hit by one of the Pirates' sharp talons. She didn't know how sharp the talons were, nor did she want to find out by letting the Pirates hit her. She jumped into the sky, thus barely avoiding getting hit by the talons.

Then she turned around in the air and tried firing a missile down on one of the Pirates below her, not knowing whether it would have any effect or not. The recoil from the missile sent her even higher into the air. In the horizon, she could see a small vessel flying around near the base, firing at something, but she couldn't see what it was shooting at. Then she started falling towards the ground. She couldn't come up with any way she could soften the fall, except if she could land on one of the Space Pirates. She kept gaining speed, as she fell down. Then she moved her left hand towards her helmet, pressing a button on the side. After a short moment, something that looked like a rectangular crosshair appeared on her visor, magnifying the central part of her field of vision. Then she pressed another button on the side of her helmet. After a second, she heard a mechanical voice. "_Scan complete. Although hardened Bendezium armor covers this Space Pirate's body, a minor flaw in the armor design has been detected right under the throat" _the mechanical voice said, as Samus accelerated towards the ground. She charged up her

Meanwhile, the soldiers were busy dodging the Space Pirates, trying to survive. They tried shooting at them, but nothing happened, except the Space Pirates got angrier and more aggressive than they were before.

"Does anyone know how to kill those things?" one of the soldiers asked as he ducked, in an attempt to avoid the Pirates' talons.

"Aim for the throat" Samus said through the communication system. "That's their weak point." As the soldiers heard Samus, they started shooting at the Space Pirates' throat, but they couldn't hit, because the Pirates were too agile.

"Why won't those Pirates stand still?" one of the soldiers. "They'd be easier to hit that way"

"Remember, those Pirates have been genetically modified" Samus replied. "That could explain why those Pirates are too intelligent to just stand still and wait to die."

"That's not fair" the soldier said. "If they keep dodging when we fire at them, we won't hit them."

"Wait a minute" another soldier said, while shooting at some of the Pirates. "If they keep dodging when we shoot at them, they can't attack us. Therefore, if we just keep shooting at them, they will just dodge our shots and we won't have any trouble surviving. And while we keep them distracted, Samus can fire her missiles at them. Does everyone understand?"

"Understood" the other five soldiers replied at the same time.

"Good. Everyone, fire at those Pirates" the soldier said and started shooting like mad.

"Hey, you. Soldier. Remind me that once we get through the gates, I have something to ask you" Samus said.

"Understood" the soldier replied, still shooting at the Space Pirates, that kept on dodging every single shot he fired at them. Suddenly, he saw something hitting one of the Pirates in the throat, after which it blew up, leaving the Bendezium armor behind.

"Great. Now there's only thirteen Pirates left" one of the soldiers said as he kept on shooting at some Space Pirates, hoping to hit their throat. Then one of the Space Pirates rushed towards him and attacked with its sharp talon. The soldier almost evaded the attack unharmed. "Damn those Pirates!" he said while pressing his hands on his right thigh, trying to stop the bleeding wound. "Why can't those gates just open?"

"They will" Samus replied. "In two minutes, the gates should open and that's when we can get through." One of the Pirates started firing at the wounded soldier, who could barely stand. The energy bolts that emitted from the Space Pirate's cannon-like arm went straight through the metallic armor and the soldier's chest, leaving a small circular hole, with a diameter of just about an inch, all the way through. The soldier was killed right away. "Damn. We can't afford to lose any more soldiers, if this mission is to be accomplished" Samus thought as she jumped to dodge an attack from a Space Pirate. While still crouching, she fired a missile right at the Pirate which was blown up instantly. One of the soldiers grabbed a talon from on of the dead Space Pirates.

"Does anyone know how sharp those are?" the soldier asked, as he ran towards a Space Pirate that tried to sneak up on Samus. He swung the talon, cutting the right arm off the Space Pirate. "Never mind. Apparently, they're sharp enough to kill those creeps." The Pirate swung its left arm, where its talon was sticking out, but the soldier barely evaded the attack. The Space Pirate tried again but the soldier took his Space Pirate talon and stabbed it through the Space Pirate's torso, piercing the Bendezium armor. Then he sliced it half open, hoping that the Space Pirate wouldn't survive. Then he and Samus turned their heads toward the rest of the soldiers. They didn't seem like they could handle the Pirates surrounding them alone. Not without proper weaponry.

"You, Soldier. Can you take care of the last Pirates here?" Samus asked.

"Yeah, I think so" the soldier said. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I'm going to help the other soldiers" Samus replied. "As far as I can see, there are only seven Space Pirates left attacking us."

"And the two of them are right here" the soldier said. "You take care of the other five." Then Samus ran towards the other soldiers that were almost 20 yards away. She charged her arm cannon's beam weapon while running, preparing to shoot the Pirates. After a couple of seconds, the beam was ready and she shot a pirate in the throat, causing the Pirate to die instantly.

"Soldiers. If you want to survive, do as I say" Samus said commandeering. "First off, cut the talons off the dead Pirates. They serve perfectly as short-range weapons." The soldiers stood for a moment, looking strangely at Samus.

"BEHIND YOU!" one of the soldiers suddenly shouted. Samus quickly turned around with her arm cannon raised in a vertical position, only in time to stop one of the Space Pirates in its attack. She fired a single missile at the Pirate, which was blown to pieces.

"One of you, pick up the talon" Samus said. She fired a group of missiles at the last Pirates that were just about to attack her, but one of them evaded the missile. It swung its left arm in a wide arc, hoping to strike down Samus and the soldiers at the same time. Then a talon came flying straight through the air and stopped when it hit the back. The Space Pirate fell down dead. "Alright, one minute. That's all the time we have left before we can enter the fortress. Everybody, take a rest" Samus commandeered. "That's an order."

"Fine" one of the soldiers said. "What do we do with those talons?"

"We keep them" Samus said. "They're one of our strongest weapons right now. We might also need them once we get inside." Then she flipped a small circular panel on her arm cannon and started pushing some buttons. In the horizon, the soldiers noticed a small vessel flying towards them. They quickly recognized the vessel to be Samus's starship. "As for the dead soldier, we'll send him back to the base." She grabbed the soldier and put him on top of the starship. Then she pushed some buttons again and the ship flew back to the base. After a short moment, the gates suddenly started to open.

"Now's our chance!" one of the soldiers shouted. "LET'S GO!" One by one, the soldiers and the bounty hunter ran past the giant metallic doors that slowly opened. The soldiers thought they were safe… but they had no idea what waited for them…

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Next Chapter: "After getting thorugh the gates, we try to find a place to hide until the gates close, in case another wave of Space Pirates will be sent out. Fortunately for us, our hiding place proves to be a storage room, making it even easier to hide. One of the soldiers also manage to find a hidden path to the inner parts of the Fortress..."

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: _On the other Side._

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And now that you've read this chapter, feel free to let me know what you think of it. I appreciate ANY constructive feed-back that I can get, so please let me know if there's something that needs to be improved.  
Also, in case you couldn't tell when reading the chapter, 'Bendezium' is a material that can be found in mulitple locations in 'Metroid Prime'.

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	3. Chapter 3: On the Other Side

Well, it's been quite some time since Chapter 2 was published, but here it finally is: the third Chapter of my Metroid Fanfic.

Chapter 3:

_On the other Side_

As the group ran through the large, cold metal-doors, the soldiers expected to see a large army of Space Pirates waiting just behind the gate, but the large area behind the gates was almost completely empty. Nothing living, except the four soldiers and Samus, was to be seen. Only a few large rocks lying in a pile close to the first gate and another metal-gate, which at first seemed even larger than the first gate. At first sight, they couldn't find any clearly visible way to open the gate.

"I wonder how we can get through this gate" one of the soldiers said, trying to find a way to open the giant metallic door. "We have to get through, if the Federation is to have a small chance of winning this war."

"Hold on a moment" Samus replied as she pressed a button on the left side of her helmet. A small, rectangular crosshair appeared on her visor, magnifying the central part of her field of vision.

"_Scan complete. Analysis indicates a minor fracture on the other side of the gate. Several consecutive, concussive blasts can weaken the gate" _Samus heard a metallic voice say after a short moment.

"Alright. Stand back" she said, and pressed another button on the side of her helmet. "I've found a way through." The soldiers suddenly ran away from the large metal-door and Samus flipped a small panel on the arm cannon on her right arm and pressed a small red button. The end of the arm cannon split in four, and the pieces withdrew, so they sat on the outside of the arm cannon, just above the end, barely revealing the tip of a missile. As the soldiers had gotten away from the gate, Samus fired a couple of missiles from her arm cannon. At first, it didn't seem like the missiles would hit the gate, due to the slow speed, but soon they accelerated. After only a few seconds, the missiles rammed against the giant door, shaking it with every impact, until a part of it fell to pieces, making such noise that the soldiers were almost deafened by the noise, leaving a hole big enough for a human to walk through. "Alright" Samus said after a short moment. "We can get through now." As the soldiers heard it, they ran through the tall gate.

As they slowly stepped through the hole in the gate, with Samus in front, they could hear the sound of metal hitting metal, replacing the sound someone walking through dirt makes. They looked around in the large, dark hallway, searching for a place to hide in case there would come a group of Space Pirates to greet them. However, they could see much in the darkness, except a bunch of crates standing in the right side of the hallway, from the end they entered from. Suddenly, they heard footsteps. Nobody was able to say how many Space Pirates it was, nor how close they were, but they didn't sound too distant. Actually they sounded really close.

Meanwhile, back in the cave, the commander was walking around, nervously thinking of the danger he had sent Samus and his soldiers into. He tried to think of something else, like how they could get off the planet, but he couldn't. Then someone broke the silence in the cave.

"Commander Malwitz" a person who was slightly taller than the rest of the soldiers in the base said. "I've got a new update on our situation."

"Fine" the commander replied in a tone that made him sound calm, although he was actually nowhere near being calm. "Put it on my desk. I'll take a look at it when I have time."

"Affirmative, Sir" the person said and put down the report on the table next to him, which was one of the few things the Federation had got into the new base yet.

"Dismissed, Lieutenant" the commander replied. As the lieutenant was on his was to help some other soldiers unloading some stuff from their old base, the commander suddenly called him. "Lieutenant. I've got a favor to ask of you."

"What's that, Sir?" the lieutenant asked curiously.

"It's OK if you decline. I would do that, if I was asked to do this," the commander said. "But I would like you to go to the Space Pirate Fortress and help out Samus and the soldiers. Take a GF-ST if you will. We've got a few in back-up."

"Affirmative, Sir" the lieutenant replied. "I don't hope you mind if I take the one in best shape."

"Do that if you will, lieutenant Exeter" the commander said. "And stop calling me 'sir'. And tell her that I want a complete report once the job is done."

"Affirmative, Sir… I mean, commander Malwitz" Exeter replied calmly.

"Just make sure not to die on me," commander Malwitz said. "Dismissed." As Exeter heard the last word, he stepped down and went out of the cave. He saw a couple of soldiers unloading one of the remaining Scout Transports, which was half-filled with weapons and ammunition.

"Hey! Soldiers! You don't need to unload that transport," Exeter said, as he jumped into the cockpit. "I'm taking it. It's an order from commander Malwitz!" He turned on the engines and closed the doors, and the small vessel began to hover above the ground. "Okay, now to get over there and ruin the party for those pirate creeps."

Shortly, back inside the fortress, Samus and the soldiers were still right past the second gate. Suddenly, they could see a small door opening in the opposite end of the hallway, lighting up a small part of it. The soldiers immediately crouched behind the crates, hoping not to get seen. Soon, they heard a lot of footsteps coming closer. Samus instantly crouched behind the crates as well, hiding from the Pirates. As the footsteps got closer, they seemed to get more frequent. Suddenly, without warning, the gate behind them opened, lighting up most of the entire hallway. The footsteps kept on getting closer. As the first Pirates were only 50 yards from the soldiers, one of the soldiers suddenly noticed what seemed like a weakened grate in the wall and kicked it, causing it to fall off, revealing a small airshaft, barely big enough for a Space Pirate to crawl through. One by one the soldiers slowly crawled through the airshaft, and wound up in a small, cold, grey chamber filled with scrap-metal and spare-parts for spaceships. Shortly after the soldiers had gone through the airshaft, Samus came crawling behind them.

From the small chamber, they could still hear the sound of the Space Pirates marching past on the other side. After a moment, they could see the light that fell on the floor in the hallway slowly fade away. Then, they heard the gates close. The soldiers decided to take a small break, to recover completely from their last fight. Nobody said a word. Not even a sigh. After a moment, they stood up and started looking for an exit, other than the small airshaft leading back to the pitch-black hallway, but they only found a large hexagonal hatch with a blue force field, hidden behind some spare-parts. They removed the spare-parts and started looking for a switch to turn off the force field, when they suddenly saw a yellow sphere of energy hitting the force field, creating a disturbance in the field, turning it off. As the force field turned off, the clamps on the hatch released the hatch, which split into six triangular pieces that retracted into the metallic wall.

"How did you know that worked?" one of the soldiers asked Samus, as she stepped through the hatch, followed by the troopers. They now stood in a large circular room, with two other doors and a circular chamber in the middle of the room, although no apparent signs indicated a door to the room.

"Well, I've dealt with Space Pirates before" Samus said. "One of the places was the planet Zebes. Have you ever heard of it?"

"The Homeworld of the Space Pirates?" the soldier asked. "Of course. It's where the Space Pirates come from. And where they belong."

"I don't exactly know if Zebes was the Space Pirate Homeworld, but they had a big base there," Samus said. "Until I destroyed it, of course."

"Okay, what do we do now?" another soldier asked, looking around in the chamber.

"We split up" a third soldier suggested. "That way we will be able to search faster."

"Good idea" Samus replied. "If we want to complete this mission, we will have to search multiple places at the same time. We'll split up in two groups. Force One will be coming with me, and Force Two will be going the other way."

"And who's in which group?" a soldier asked.

"I was about to declare that" Samus said and took a few steps back. Then she pointed at three of the soldiers. "You three will make up Force Two." Then she pointed at the last soldier. "You'll be in Force One. What's your name?"

"Private First Class W. Smythe, Ma'am" the soldier said.

"I'll just call you Smythe from now on" Samus replied. "Alright. Let's get moving!" As Samus turned around to go through the door behind her, the entire fortress started shaking for a short moment. Then, as the tremor stopped, a small, grayish blue vessel flew through the wall and hit the circular chamber in the middle of the room.

"Oops" they heard a voice say from inside the vehicle, which had been damaged far beyond recognition. "Guess the commander isn't going to be happy." A short moment later, a tall human stepped out of the vehicle, wearing armor identical to that of the other soldiers. "You must be Samus. Pleased to meet you."

"Who are you?" Samus asked. "And what are you doing here?"

"I'm Lieutenant E. Exeter," the soldier said. "And I've been sent to help you in completing the mission."

"Fine" Samus replied. "You can join Force One. Exeter, Smythe, follow me."

"Affirmative" the two soldiers said at the same time. Samus turned around and started shot the door behind her.

"Let's go!" Samus said as they ran through the door. They stepped into a long hallway made of glass, but the metallic blast shields on the other side of the glass made it impossible for them to see through the transparent walls. They ran as fast as they could through the hallway and ended up in front of another hatch, though this one was grey. Samus tried firing at the grey hatch, but with no result. The hatch did not open, just like the last two had done. "Looks like we can't just shoot this door open" Samus thought after a moment. "Exeter, Smythe. Try to find a way to get through this door."

"Will do" they replied at the same time and started looking.

"Meanwhile, I'll see if I can find out what's on the other side of those windows" Samus said. The soldiers hadn't been searching for so long, when the blast shields on the glass walls suddenly retracted, revealing what was on the other side. "I don't know what you just did, but take a look at this." The two soldiers went over to Samus and looked through the glass.

"Wow" Smythe exclaimed, as he saw the enormous facility on the other side of the glass. "Apparently, this fortress is much more than just a stronghold."

"Nevertheless, we can't let that prevent us from completing our mission" Exeter said. "They're our enemies, which means we have the orders to destroy this facility. Let's ignore this for now. It will be destroyed once we blow up this fortress anyway."

"You're right" Samus replied, as she turned away to help Exeter searching for a way through the hatch…

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Next Chapter: Samus and the soldiers have decided to split up, in order to search the fortress faster. While Force One and Samus have trouble getting through the hatch, Force Two search in another part of the Fortress, hoping to find a way to destroy it. But instead, they find themselves a very unpleasant surprise...  
Next Chapter: Chapter 4: _An Unpleasant Surprise_

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_Well, now that you've read, feel free to give me useful advice. Also, just so you know: Lieutenant E. Exeter is NOT related to Captain A. Exeter in any way, except the last name.

I hope you'll give me a review, but I won't force you to. It's completely optional.

One last note: Depending on the popularity this chapter gets, you readers will get a bigger chance of seeing Chapter 4 before Christmas. Perhaps even Chapter 5 too, but I wouldn't count on it.

EDIT: After some (minor) complaints from a specific person, called Starspejd, whose username shall not be mentioned, I have decided to make some changes. Lieutenant E. Exeter and Captain A. Exeter are not related in any way any longer, since Captain A. Exeter didn't exactly survive the mission on Aether (for more info on the Aether-mission, play Metroid Prime 2: Echoes). Before that point, they were related, just not closely enough to make it count as being related. More like A. Exeters uncle's cousin's wife's nephews step-father (yes, it sounds confusing, but it's purely to illustrate how remotely related they are.


	4. Chapter 4: Unpleasant Surprise

Well, it's been a while since chapter 3 was up, so here is chapter 4. Enjoy!

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Chapter 4:

_An Unpleasant Surprise_

Two minutes earlier:

"Alright, I can almost see the Fortress now" Exeter thought, as he flew towards the Fortress in the small streamlined Scout Transport. "I just don't hope I'm too late."

Meanwhile, somewhere inside the Fortress, a loud beep could be heard from the systems.

"Lord Ridley. The External Radars have detected a small, potentially hostile vehicle heading this way" one of the Space Pirates said, as he heard the sound from the radars. "What do you want us to do?"

"Charge the Nova Cannon" the large reptilian creature, which looked a bit like a dragon, except it had several electric components instead of organic body-parts all over, said in a sinister voice. "Once the Nova Cannon is charged, I want you to shoot down that vehicle. That will teach that bounty hunter to ruin my plans!"

"Yes sir" the pirates all replied at the same time and started operating the systems.

"But don't you think we'll be wasting our energy on firing the Nova Cannon at a single vehicle?" one of the pirates asked, doubting his masters orders. "I mean, the Nova Cannon was built to have power enough to turn planets into dust. If we fire it at that small vehicle it might wipe out this planet as well."

"Silence!" Ridley shouted at the pirate. "How dare you question your master's orders? You will be demoted if it happens just once more!"

"Yes sir!" the pirate replied terrified, at his master's wrath. "It won't happen again."

"Nova Cannon at 20%" another pirate said.

"Fine. One more minute and that vehicle will be destroyed" Ridley replied. "And that bounty hunter will be annihilated."

"30%" the pirate said. "35%, sir. It's beginning to go fast now. 45%."

"Good. Wait 10 seconds and fire the cannon!" Ridley ordered immediately. "Even if it means we don't have full power!" Suddenly, a loud crash echoed throughout the entire Fortress. "What in the universe was that?"

"The vehicle disappeared from our radars, Lord Ridley" the first pirate said.

"Cancel the Firing Sequence" Ridley replied immediately. "Apparently the hostile vehicle has crashed against our walls." Suddenly, another crash was heard, shortly followed by a couple of more crashes. "Send a message to all soldiers. Tell them to find the hostile vehicle and destroy it."

"Yes, Lord Ridley" the pirate said.

"And give me a damage report" Ridley commanded. "I want to know how much that Federation bug has managed to destroy in 30 seconds."

"Yes sir" the pirate replied. "The hostile has destroyed the External Reinforced Bendezium wall plating on level 6. Apart from that, the hostile has made a large hole in every single wall between the hole in the External Reinforced Bendezium wall plating and Sector 04-359, which is located on level 4. Furthermore, the hostile has killed just about 30 soldiers, 12 Scientists and 8 Engineers and managed to wreak Spacedock 2, which is also located on level 4, not far from Sector 04-359."

"Send an order to all personel, soldiers or not" Ridley commanded. "Hostile has last been spotted in Sector 04-359. Anyone that happens to be in that area must, and I repeat, must make an attempt at executing the hostile."

"Yes sir!" all the pirates in the room replied at the same time.

A short moment later on level 4, Samus and Force One were trying to find a way through a grey metal hatch, while Force Two had gone the other way from the circular hallway they were in just a moment ago. As they stepped through the hatch from the circular hallway, they entered a large, cold laboratory with a couple of consoles on the walls and some consoles in front of a large canister, with one side made of metal and the other side made of glass. Through the glass they could see what looked like a pirate, except it had been genetically modified in some way.

"Let's start searching for information about this experiment" one of the soldiers, who acted as their leader, said. "If anyone finds anything, let me know right away." The soldiers spread out and started searching for information. They tried to hack themselves into their computers, but only managed to trigger the alert system. "Who did that?" the acting leader asked.

"I think I did that" another soldier said as a hatch suddenly opened on the catwalk above them, granting the Pirates access to the laboratory.

"Well, can you hurry up and undo it?" the acting leader asked in an angry tone, pointing his rifle at the Pirates. "Can you?"

"I don't think so" the soldier said. "The systems shut down."

"So, it's all up to me, right?" the second soldier asked. "Fine then. Leave it to me to kill those Pirates." Quickly, he pulled out a small hand blaster from its sheathe on his right leg and fired three rapid shots, killing three of the Pirates. As the dead Pirates fell down, before the last Pirate could get out of the way, the talons on the three falling corpses cut the fourth in pieces. "Apparently, their armor only protects against weapons using a special frequency. Good thing this hand blaster ain't using the same frequency as our rifles are.

"You just take care of any Pirates we might encounter for the rest of this mission" the acting leader said. "If you can kill four enemies in three shots, I don't want to know how many shots you need to kill the rest of their army."

"Hey look!" the first soldier yelled. "The systems are back online. Let's try again, without triggering the alerts."

"Does anyone know what buttons to push?" the second soldier asked.

"Does it matter?" the acting leader asked. "Just push all of the buttons, except the red one." The soldiers started hammering the consoles on the walls. After a short moment, the large canister was lit up from the inside. However, despite what the soldiers had expected, it was completely empty. Not even a bug was in it. The soldiers continued pressing random buttons on the consoles. After another moment, a large cannon came down from the ceiling, aiming straight at the soldiers. "Okay, whatever you do, _don't_ press the trigger."

"Hey, I know nothing about this machinery" one of the soldiers said and turned a switch, changing the cannon's point of aim at the same time.

"Forget what I said. Just make sure that you don't blow up everything in this laboratory when you pull the trigger." the acting leader said and the soldier flipped another switch. As the soldier flipped the switch, the cannon let out a strange buzzing sound. About 30 seconds later, it fired a thin, green energy beam, which seemed to heat the wall, making small dents in the surface, that later turned into large holes in the wall. "Okay, you can turn it off now."

"That's going to be quite a problem" the first soldier said. "Mainly because none of us knows how to control this thing, but also because it has drained all the power from the consoles."

"Oh, now that's just great!" the acting leader exclaimed. "First you let the Pirates enter, then you turn on a weapon that can't be turned off. What are you planning to do about it?"

"Cut the wires?" the second soldier suggested. "It would make sense, that it can't operate without getting power. So by cutting the wires, we would be able to turn this cannon off."

"Or perhaps we should just let it be and go back" the acting leader said. "I'm sure Samus and Force One have gotten deeper into this Fortress."

"Right" the two other soldiers replied. The soldiers went out of the dark, cold laboratory, and found themselves back in the circular hallway with electrical systems hanging in boxes on the walls and with illuminated floors and ceilings, giving the brown walls a lighter hue, where they had met Lieutenant Exeter and split up just a while ago. The large Scout Transport was still just lying destroyed in the hallway, blocking on way around, still smoking after the crash-landing, making it quite difficult to see.

"Make sure to have your weapons fully reloaded" the acting leader said and entered the hallway crouching. As he got a little closer, he could see the silhouettes of three creatures, one with what immediately looked like three heads and the other two with a single head each. "FREEZE!" he shouted, and pointed his rifle straight at the silhouettes. But none of them seemed to do as he said. Instead, they pointed their own weapons at him, ready to retaliate, should he hurt them. "Identify yourselves immediately!"

"This is Force One" one of the silhouettes said. "Identify yourselves immediately, or feel the consequences."

"This is Force Two of the Galactic Federation" the acting leader replied and lowered his rifle. He told the other two soldiers behind him to lower their weapons as well, and they did. "Did you find anything, Force One?"

"No, only a door that we couldn't get through" Samus said. "We tried anything we had at hand, but with no result."

"I see. We only found an incontrollable beam cannon that we left turned on" the acting leader replied. "Apparently, it can cut through the walls, but I'm not quite sure."

"Let me take a look at it, soldier" Samus said and went through the door to the laboratory. She immediately noticed the large cannon that hanged down from the ceiling, and fired a thin beam that had already penetrated several walls in its path. She stepped over to one of the consoles on the right wall, and turned a switch, turning the cannon and moving the beam's point of aim. The soldiers instantly made sure to get out of the way, as the beam passed by, stopping at the large cylindrical chamber in the middle. Without any problem, the beam quickly melted the walls and continued heading straight through the glassy hallway, that Samus and Force One came from, and hit the hatch. Slowly, the hatch began bulging slightly, and after a minute, the door had been euthanized completely. Samus fired three missiles at the cannon as she left the laboratory, destroying it.

"Well, now we know where the Power-button on that thing was" one of the soldiers said sarcastically.

"Let's move on" Samus said, and she and the soldiers went through the newly opened hatch at the end of the glassy hallway…

* * *

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: _"As we walk through the molten hatch, we find ourselves in a large room, with huge unisolated electrical panels on the walls. However, before we get to explore anything, a cage filled with Pirates we have never seen before comes down from the ceiling._

_Next Chapter: Second Battle! Shock Pirate Army!  
_

* * *

NOTE: The Nova Cannon mentioned in the first part of this chapter is NOT the Nova Beam from MP3. Mainly because the Nova Cannon can actually destroy a planet about the same size as earth with only half power (thus Nova Cannon), while the Nova Beam can't.

Also, next chapter is expected to be just about 3.5k words instead of the usual 2k +/- 0.2k words.

And before you ask: YES! Lieutenant Exeter DID manage to wreak so much havok during his crash-landing.


End file.
